i don't get this quote. can someone please explain? who is they?

Question

"there is also the difference between merchants barely tolerated by a centralized empire and those whose rulers and governments used them for their imperial cause... they could, in terms of entrepeneurship and daring, do everything that the various eruopeans could do. but they were helpless to produce the necessary institutional change in china to match european or even japanese power. they were never the instruments of any effort by ming or qing authorities to build merchant empires; nor could the hope to get mandarin or ideological support for any innovative efforts of their own.""

Answer 1

This passage says that the Chinese empire and its rulers didn't encourage merchants to sell their products or make money. Although these merchants were smart, the government leaders wouldn't change their policies to allow China to these merchants to innovate and conduct business.